Okay so I know that I should probably work on my Roswell/10 Things I Hate About You fanfiction on my other account before I even think about starting a new one but I couldn't help. The idea for this story just nestled into my head and now refuses to leave. So for all intents and purposes my other story 'Where You Lie' is officially on hiatus and I'm not sure as to whether or not I will even continue it at all.
Anyways back to my current story which you have so graciously clicked upon. Clandestine Deeds is set 10 years after the third X-Men movie. It will be set out the way one of my favorite television shows, Skins, is and both the first and last chapter of this story with revolve around everyone, while the chapters in the middle will each be devoted to one central character so that all of my characters get their chance in the limelight. Almost every character in this story will be an OC with a few of the actual characters such as Rogue, Pyro and Storm thrown in for fun. I have taken some artistic liberties with these characters so please do not leave me any hateful reviews telling me that I have completely messed them up.
This story is also rated M for a reason people. Throughout the story I will be dealing with topics such as sex, swearing, underage drinking, rape, drug use, murder and violence. If you don't feel that you would be allowed to read this story because of the aforementioned issues then I suggest that you click the back button right now and find a story with a lower rating. And yes I am aware that this chapter is a little slow but that is just because I wanted to introduce you to the characters before I go into too much detailed storyline. The later chapters I promised will be more action packed.
Sorry to be going on so much but this is the first chapter and there were a few things that I thought you should know before continuing on with the story. If you have managed to read this far without skipping ahead then congratulations, you get a gold star. Without further ado people, Chapter One!
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
- Invictus, William Ernest Henley
Chapter One – Everyone
She didn't want to do this. She couldn't do this. Twenty-Eight year old Marie D'Ancanto, or Rogue as she preferred to go by, was standing in front of the new Xavier's School for Gifted Children. Two years ago Storm had been dealing with a raising number of people wishing to find sanctuary at the school and it had been decided that two new schools, one in New York and the other in Texas, needed to be opened.
Rogue had been appointed as Headmaster for the New York school while Bobby and Kitty would be sharing the job in Texas. The two of them had been married only a year ago and were still in the stage of being sickeningly sweet with one another. Rogue was kind of glad that she would no longer have to deal with the two of them any longer. Kitty may be her best friend but if she'd heard Bobby being referred to as 'my wonderful husband' one more time it was highly possible that she may have strangled Kitty.
Behind her an obnoxious black hummer pulled up and Tyler Stanford jumped out. Tyler was a year younger then Rogue and had been at the Xavier Institute since he was eleven. Once he had graduated Tyler had chosen to remain at Xavier's as a teacher and when the new school had been built he had been one of the first to offer to move. From the other side of the car Tyler's best friend and fellow teacher, Aaron Mussolio hopped out. Aaron gave Rogue the creeps. No one knew anything about him as he refused to tell anyone about his past, in fact he hardly said anything to anyone except Tyler. Aaron was only twenty-two but he was exceptionally intelligent for his age. That was one of the few things Rogue respected him for.
In only a few hours the first students would arrive at the school, some new, and some who were simply transferring schools. Rogue picked up her dark green duffle bag that she'd had since she'd run away from home at only fifteen and headed into the imposing school. It was a lot bigger than the original school that was for sure.
.o.O.o.
Effy Hastings attempted to shove her last article of clothing into her suitcase. Only it simply would not fit. Blowing a strand of her dark brown hair out of her eyes in exasperation she focused on the bag, blocking out everything else around her. Slowly the bag grew in size, the material stretching to accommodate the last piece of clothing. No doubt Effy would have a killer headache later. She'd never been very good at using her powers unless she was scared or experiencing some other heightened emotion. But slowly she had grown a bit better with the help of her favourite teacher, Rogue. Who, like Effy, had trouble controlling her ability.
From behind Effy the bedroom door opened and Effy turned her head to see her fraternal twin sister, Katie, walking in. Katie simply had to take a quick look at Effy's slightly unfocused eyes and suddenly bigger suitcase to see what had happened. "I thought Professor D'Ancanto told you not to use your powers when you're not in practice with her. That it could put too much strain on you or whatever." Katie was already across the room at her bed. Throwing a set of heels that Effy no doubt would have broken her neck in into her own suitcase.
"Yeah well what she doesn't know won't hurt her right?" Quickly Effy zipped up the suitcase, glad that she didn't have to sit on it in order to close it like her sister was now doing. Glancing around she looked to see if she had forgotten anything. "Crap." Sitting on the bedside table was a picture of Katie, Effy, their little brother Asher and their parents. It had been taken three years ago on Katie and Effy's thirteenth birthday. "Can I put this in your bag? Mine's already closed." When Katie nodded Effy chucked the picture at her sister who slid it through the thin hole she'd left open in the zipper before closing it fully.
Once more the bedroom door burst open and fourteen year old Andromache, who preferred the name Andi, came in. Her bright blue suitcase rolling in behind her. It looked as if she'd had no trouble packing. "You guys had better hurry. The van's leaving soon. Asher, Ari and the new girl are already waiting." The two twins thanked the younger girl before grabbing their bags and heading out after her. Effy venomously wished that her bag had wheels like Andi's, her suitcase must have weighed a tonne.
As they got to the stairs the three girls could hear yelling already coming from downstairs.
"God you're so annoying! Why are you even changing schools with us? I thought you were the 'king of the school'." A girl's voice rang out sarcastically.
"I'm annoying? What about you, little miss I'm so much better than everyone? Why're you moving with us? Everyone going already knows you're a grade A bitch!" Effy didn't have to guess who it was. She knew even before she saw the pink streaked blonde hair or her little brother. Ari and Asher had been like this since the day that they met. Effy was just thankful that they hadn't resorted to physical violence, yet.
Ari, full name Ariadne, was Andi's older sister. Ari scared Effy. Well okay that was not true. Ari's power scared Effy. Ari was able to open a black hole on command, anything nearby was sucked into it. There were rumours floating around the school that Ari had used her power on her mother and that's why she was never seen, but Andi had told Effy that their mother had run off with her Pilates instructor, another woman. That was why Ari refused to talk about their mother, she was bitter over the abandonment.
Rolling her eyes at the bickering, Effy walked over to the girl that she didn't recognise. This must have been the new girl that everyone was talking about. She didn't look like much. She was tiny, couldn't have been more than five foot, if that. "Hey, I'm Effy." Effy didn't extend her hand or anything as was normal. She wasn't a bit touchy-feely person.
The new girl looked up at Effy, her chocolate eyes sparkled slightly which caught her off guard. "Hey. I'm Alice. Nice to meet you." She smiled at Effy before glancing over at the still bickering teens. Effy laughed as she saw Katie and Andi trying to break it up only for Asher and Ari to send glares their way. Absently Effy wondered if those two would ever realise that they were perfect for each other and just hook up already. "Friends of yours?" Alice asked, humour playing in her voice.
"Worse." Effy replied in a 'woe is me' tone of voice. "Family." A tinkling laugh came from Alice which in turn made Effy laugh. Alice was pretty cool, hopefully they'd be friends.
An annoyed growl came from behind them and Effy turned to see Logan, codename Wolverine, glaring at the group. Logan had a short fuse and no one liked to annoy him more than her little brother and Ari. "Come on small pints. Let's go." He growled before walking outside to the van that would take us to the new school.
Alice looked frightened of Logan. "Don't worry." Effy whispered. "Logan's a big teddy bear." From outside she heard an indignant grunt from Logan, forcing Effy to once again laugh.
.o.O.o.
The sound of their moans filled the room as he once again brought her to climax. Falling back into the bed Spencer sat up in the bed, pulling her grey hoody on as she did. This was the fifth night in a row that she and Pyro had spent together. There was no love between them, only an almost animalistic need to be close to another person. Spencer could tell that he was thinking about another girl while he was with her. Hell she was thinking of her ex-boyfriend during it.
Picking up her black skinny jeans she left the room, returning the small wave Pyro sent her before slipping of the room. Pulling on her clothes Spencer stalked down the metal hallways. When the brotherhood had been re-built after the whole 'cure' incident Pyro had chosen to keep their headquarters the way they were when Magneto had been in charge. All the metal just made Spencer feel cold. The door to her left opened and Spencer saw Michaela step out, her hair tousled. No doubt she'd just been with Adam, Spencer's cousin. Spencer would never know what he saw in the blonde twig. If Adam were to be with anyone Spencer would have preferred him to be fucking Lily, Michaela's younger half sister from an affair her father had. At least Lily wasn't a total fucking bitch.
Upon seeing Spencer, Michaela shot her an 'I know what you just did' look. Her mouth curving into an unattractive smirk. Spencer just raised an eyebrow and continued along. Who fucking cared if she was fucking Pyro? Girl had needs and while Pyro may have been ten years her elder Spencer was nineteen and could have sex with anybody she liked. It was no one's business; especially not a skinny bitch like Michaela's.
Walking into the games room that Pyro had set up after much pleading by some of the Brotherhood members Spencer collapsed onto the couch next to Lily who was playing on the PlayStation 3 with Kyle. Kyle was a creepy kid – actually kid wouldn't really be the right word to use, he was sixteen after all – but he was good at what he did. His power was precognition which meant that he could see the future, well possible futures anyway. His power was dependant on a person making a decision. If a person were to change their mind then their future would change.
Lily raised her eyebrows at Spencer but didn't ask what had happened. For which Spencer was grateful. As Lily once again beat Kyle the younger boy glared before throwing the controller at Spencer and stalking out. Spencer sat where he had been and Lily hit rematch on the game. "So," Lily began in a tone that Spencer didn't really like. "Pyro again?"
Spencer sighed as she blew the head off of one of Lily's team. "Yeah so? Not like I'm breaking any rules or anything."
When Lily hit pause on the game Spencer looked at her best friend questioningly. "It's not healthy Spence and you know it." Spencer remained quiet making Lily continue on. "Don't give me that. I know you too well. You're still hung up over what's his name from before. You ever think that maybe you lo-"
Spencer cut in before Lily could finish her sentence. "No I didn't. You know as well I as I do that l-l-l that doesn't exist. It's all some bullshit created by the companies in order to sell more crap at Valentines. Besides you don't know what the hell you're talking about." Lily sighed as Spencer once again was unable to say the word love and avoided the topic. Something must have happened in her past to make her like this.
"Spence you're my best friend and I love you but that's total bullshit and you know it. One day you're gonna wake up and realize that the past year has been a big mistake with Pyro and you're gonna hate yourself for it. I don't wanna see that happen."
Before Spencer could retort to that Mystique – whose powers had come back shortly after it was revealed that the cure wasn't permanent – walked in, a boy who looked maybe a year younger then Spencer herself walking in after her. "Spencer, Lily. Where are the others?" Mystique asked, her voice steely which made the two teenage girls shudder slightly.
"Who knows. Kyle just left and Michaela and Adam are...busy. And Pyro sent the others out on some mission." Mystique raised an eyebrow questioningly but didn't ask.
"Well this is Damon Abbot, also known as Mimic. He's agreed to join us. Would the two of you mind showing him around?" It wasn't a question so much as a, show him around or I'll beat you over the head with your own appendages. No one disobeyed Mystique. Lily and Spencer nodded and Mystique left the room without another word.
Spencer got up from the couch. "This one's all yours Lil. I got things to do." Walking out of the room before Lily could protest Spencer headed towards Kyle's room. Kid was creepy but she needed to ask him something.
.o.O.o.
Ari was the first one to climb out of the van. If she had to listen to one more of Ashers taunts she could not be held responsible for her actions. Quickly grabbing her duffel bag from the back of the van she hurried into the building, not bothering to wait for the others. Rogue stood by the stairs, frowning at a sheet of paper she held in her hands. Seeing that the students had began to arrive Rogue tucked the paper into a Manilla envelope and sent a strained smile towards Ari. "Ariadne. You're hear. Good. Well, you guys are the first ones hear so you get first choice for bedrooms. I doubt that we'll run out of space anytime soon so there is no need for roommates. Though if you wish to continue to share with your sister that will be fine." Seeing Ari shaking her head Rogue continued. "Right well we'll be serving dinner at seven. Classes don't start for another week so feel free to explore the house. Oh and I suggest grabbing a room on the top floor, the view from up there is awesome." Rogue sent Ari a wink which caused her to laugh.
"Thanks Rogue." Rogue had told them time and again that she hated to be called Professor D'Ancanto. It made her feel old. "I'll see you at seven." Racing up the stair as the others entered the school Ari did as Rogue had suggested and raced to the top floor, looking out one of the hallways windows she saw that Rogue was right. The view was awesome from up here. Following the hallways she came to the last two rooms and decided to take the one on the left. She felt good about it. Opening the door she was amazed. This room was easily two times the size of her one back at the other Xavier Institute and about three times the size as the one she had back home.
Before she began to unpack Ari changed into some more comfortable clothes – some old black track pants and a Jimi Hendrix top that had been her fathers. Within an hour the room was transformed. She's swapped the bed sheets with her own, discarding the others into the corner of the room. The walls were besieged with posters of bands from ACDC to Linkin Park to Paramore – Ari loved all types of music though she tended to like the heavier rock. Her clothes littered the floor and her cosmetics overtook the vanity that had been set up for whomever chose this room. Looking in the mirror Ari ran a brush through her hair before pulling it up into a messy bun. The pink streak she had in her hair in stark contrast with her naturally blonde hair. Changing from her comfy clothes into what she had been wearing earlier – faded jeans and black singlet with red flannel shirt over the top – Ari decided to go and explore the new school. Before leaving she grabbed her iPod. 'Miss Nothing' by The Pretty Reckless playing loudly through the speakers.
An hour later she had discovered that Effy had chosen the room down the hall while her sister was two floors down. Andi was on the first level, she had never liked heights. Even if she was in a building. Ari had had just stepped onto the ground floor when she heard Asher and his friend Kaleb who must have arrived not long ago. "Are you sure that it's him?" Asher asked in a hushed tone. Ari peeked around the corner. It looked like they were huddled over the laptop that Kaleb never seemed to be without. While Ari may have despised Asher, Kaleb was pretty cool. When Ari had first arrived at the mansion he would go out of his way to come and sit with her, even when her power had been revealed and everyone had grown scared of her.
Ari wasn't stupid. She knew about all of the rumours that circulated her. It was shortly after her powers were announced that her rivalry with Asher had started. One day he had just come up to where she and Kaleb were sitting and ordered his best friend not to sit with her anymore. She didn't blame him for not wanting to sit with her, if she'd had one she wouldn't want to lose her best friend over someone else either.
Wandering over behind them quietly she squinted down at the screen. At first Ari was confused. It looked as if they were looking down at some surveillance footage on Kaleb. But where Kaleb had bright blue eyes, the boy on the screen had green eyes. Also didn't help that Kaleb and the guy on the screen held themselves completely different. "Who's that?"
The guys jumped; obviously her stealth was more advanced than she'd given herself credit for. Asher glared at Ari, but there was something strange in his gaze. An almost desperate look. "Forget you saw anything. You tell anyone and I will make your life a living hell." Like it wasn't already. Usually this was the point where Kaleb jumped in to break up whatever fight the two were having but he just sat there. Ari noticed that he was gripping the laptop so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. What the hell had she just walked in on?
"Whatever. Fine. I didn't see anything." With that she turned and headed back for her room, thoughts of what had just happened swirling around in her head.
.o.O.o.
Rogue, Tyler, Aaron and Logan all sat in Rogue's office. On her desk blueprints for some sort of device where laid out. Logan was pacing by the window angrily while Rogue sat in her chair, her already pale face drained of colour. Tyler and Aaron where going over the schematics in front of them. "You're sure this came from a reliable source?" Tyler questioned.
Rogue nodded. "We've had some people infiltrating both the government and the FOH. They sent this through only about an hour ago." She looked over at Logan who had always been like a father too her. "Logan we've got to take this to Storm. This is way over my head."
From where he was pacing Logan cracked his knuckles. Tyler had noticed that he always did this when he was thinking about something. "No." The gruff, Canadian monotonously answered. "Storm would take too long deciding what to do with this information. No I say we go in ourselves. Check out the accuracy of these reports."
"And how do you propose we do that huh?" Aaron spoke up for the first time, hostility clearly evident in his voice. Both he and Logan had never gotten along. God. To Rogue it was like Logan and Scott all over again. Except where Scott was a boy-scout, Aaron was like his dark double. "If we go in there they'll figure it out that they have a mole on the inside and we could lose one of the few sources of information that we have going." Loath as she was too admit it, Aaron had a point.
"Look. Both of you have a point." Tyler compromised as he always was between his best friend and the Canadian. "And this is not an idea I like but perhaps we could have Cable hack into their CCTV's and try and gather something that our source can't provide."
Logan leaned against the wall, his arms crossed against his chest. "Who Kaleb? I thought the kid wasn't up too using his powers for anything big after what happened last time." Everyone in the room remembered what had occurred only a few weeks ago. Storm had asked if Kaleb could download any of the information from a computer of an FBI agent they thought might be working for the FOH, a group that called themselves the Friends of Humanity that strongly opposed mutants. Unfortunately the agent's computer had a virus that activated when a foreign entity was trying to gather information. And because Kaleb's ability had his mind directly tied in with the computer while he was accessing it, the virus had infected him and he had spent the next two weeks with no idea of who or where he was.
"No. I can't ask Kaleb to do that again. But I may have another idea." Three sets of eyes were now entirely focused on Rogue. "One of our new students, Alice Lafferty." Rogue pulled a file from the pile on her desk. "She's a telepath. A rather strong one too from what I gather. If we could just get her close to the facility she should be able to glean the information that we need."
A growl came from Logan's direction. "She's just a kid Rogue. How much longer are we going to send kids in to do our dirty work?"
"I know she's a kid Logan. Believe me I don't like the idea anymore than you do. But I'm not seeing any other option here. If this program were to go forward than we will all be dead. You think the government cares that the mutants they capture are children? They don't! They just don't care! And I don't care how strongly you oppose the idea of sending one of the students in. It's the only option that we have left. Things have changed since Xavier was alive. Hell in the last few years that he was alive he was more than willing to let me, Bobby, Kitty, Peter, all of us in on missions. We all grew up faster than we should have. And we all have our roles to play." By the end Rogue had gone what Tyler liked to call, 'scary calm'. It was the kind of calm that his mother used to get in the middle of an argument. The kind of calm that left no room for disagreement. Rogue got up from her chair and walked out the door, but not before sending a pleading look at them all. She wanted them to know that if she had any other option than she would take it.
Tyler looked once more at the blueprints spread across the desk. 'The Sentinel' was written in bold letters across the top of the paper. Rogue was right about one thing. If the construction of this device went through, they were all dead.
.o.O.o.
Jennifer hadn't been with the Brotherhood for long. A couple of weeks at most. She hadn't been keeping track. The clock on her bedside table told her that it was already 11:38AM. She'd slept through almost half the day it seemed. Pushing the covers from herself she padded into the connecting bathroom. It was odd. Looking into the mirror and seeing nothing staring back at you. With a sigh Jennifer closed her eyes. She pictured herself as a painting, with all of the splashes of colour draining into it. When she opened her eyes again her sunken green eyes stared back at her. If someone were to observe her than they would see a young girl who looked as if she had been dragged through hell and back.
A few bruises still swept her collarbone. They were almost healed by now. But the internal injuries she had suffered were still there. Jennifer hated to go to sleep anymore. He was waiting for her there. She figured that she must have passed out around six o'clock that morning. The nightmare still remained with her.
A belt buckle being undone...harsh whispers for her to be quiet...fingernails tearing through flesh...a sharp pain coming from between her legs...the pressure over her leaving...curling into a ball as blood leaked onto the bed sheets
Jennifer thrust herself away from the mirror. Not wanting to look at herself. It would only bring up more memories. Pulling a sweater that looked about seven times too big on her tiny frame she exited her bedroom.
Making her way into the communal kitchen that everyone in the Brotherhood shared she saw Adam hovering near the stove where a frying pan sat, something sizzling away inside of it. Adam turned to look at her and offered a small smile. He was the one that Jennifer got along with best here. He was so much nicer than everyone else. Then again some of the other people here were just plain batshit crazy. Adam knew about what had happened to her in the past but had promised that he wouldn't tell anyone. Also he never looked at her with pity which made Jenny feel a hell of a lot better. "Hey what's up short stuff?" From the small crinkling at the side of his eyes Jennifer knew that he had heard her screams last night. Well this morning really if you wanted to get specific. Jenny shrugged and swung herself up to sit on the bench as Adam cooked. "You want some pancakes? Their choc chip." He waved the spatula in front of Jenny's face which elicited a small laugh from her as she pushed it away.
"Pancakes sound great. You need help with anything?" Every time Jenny asked this and every time Adam replied that he didn't. Never the less Jenny grabbed two plates from the cupboard and set then out on the table. She then poured out one glass of orange juice and one glass of apple juice. Adam walked over and spooned the pancakes onto the plate. The two had done this enough to know to keep out of the others way. They moved in synchronisation.
Adam sat down on one side of the table while Jennifer sat at the other. "So. You have another nightmare?" Obviously. Jenny just raised her eyebrows at Adam and shoved a forkful of pancake into her mouth. "You know you're going to have to talk to someone about it sooner or later."
"How about this. I'll talk about my nightmares as soon as you explain to me what you're doing with that psychopath Michaela." Jenny snapped back. That may have been harsh but Adam knew that she wasn't ready to talk about her nightmares yet. She needed more time.
"So no nightmare talk. Got it." Adam took a bite just as Spencer walked in looking thoroughly put out. "Hey cuz. What's wrong?" If Jenny were honest Spencer intimidated her. She didn't scare her or anything but something in her eyes spoke of a grief that matched or even surpassed the intensity of Jenny's own pain.
Spencer put a few pancakes onto a plate of her own. Adam always made enough for everyone but usually ended up eating most himself so the rule was too get in quick if you wanted anything. "I talked to Kyle." A look of understanding passed between the two that Jennifer didn't understand. When the two of them were like this she could have sworn that they were telepathic or something as they didn't need words to communicate.
"And?" Adam questioned.
"And nothing. He can't see anything. Apparently there's a darkness that his visions can't get around."
A roguish grin passed over Adam's face but Jenny could still see the worry that he had for his cousin. "Maybe it's because of that dark cloud your always carrying over your head." Spencer gave a sarcastic laugh and moved to the fridge to grab a beer. She was the only person Jennifer knew who had alcohol in the middle of the day. It always seemed like she was trying to forget something.
Realising that the cousins may have been skirting around the topic of their conversation because of Jenny's presence she stood up and slipped the remains of her pancakes onto Adam's plate. "I'm gonna go to the training room. See if I can maybe burn off some energy." She smiled weakly at Spencer before heading out. Before the door swung shut behind her she could hear Spencer and Adam launching into a heated conversation. One thing was for sure at the Brotherhood. People didn't like to share their pasts and if she were completely honest with herself; that was fine with Jennifer.
.o.O.o.
"You're sure?" Pyro asked into his cell phone.
A scoff came from the other side of the call. "This isn't my first time gathering information Pyro. Have a little faith." A childlike voice spoke. Usually Pyro didn't like sending Kaeli, or CopyCat, as she had started calling herself when she went out on her own for a mission, out at all but the Brotherhood needed some information about a new project that the government was working on and Kaeli was the best one for extracting information. She'd been trained to torture since infancy and maybe that was what set Pyro's nerves off about her so much. "I also found out that some heavy hitter investors are going to be meeting tomorrow in New York to discuss Project Sentinel. You want me to stake the place out? See what we can find out?"
Pyro thought about this. But in the end Kaeli was still a loose cannon and she was just as likely to kill everyone there as she was too listen in and stay put. "No. No come back in. I want you and Mystique working together on this one and we can't jump the gun too early and let them know that we know what they're doing."
"What do you want me to do about this guy?" She asked, referring to the informant that she had been torturing for the past two days.
"Kill him." Before the line disconnected Pyro was sure that he heard the sound of gargling. No doubt Kaeli had slit the man's throat.
"You know that you shouldn't trust CopyCat with something as delicate as this don't you?" Mystique spoke from the shadows behind Pyro. But he was used to her showing up out of nowhere. She had yet to frighten him or catch him off guard.
Pyro let out a sigh and dropped his head into his hands. Rough growth rubbed against his palms. He would have to shave again. "I know. But what do you expect? She's good at this. There was no other way. So unless you have a brilliant plan I suggest that you stop telling me how to do things!" By the end he was shouting. Mystique slunk back. Normally she wasn't an easy woman to intimidate but nothing was more threatening than a pissed off pyromaniac.
"Fine. But just remember that we're not the only ones with this information. The X-Men have no doubt learned about the Sentinel Project through one of their contacts. Hell they probably know more about it than we do."
Pyro looked up, a hard look in his eye. "Then we'll have to make sure that we get there before they do."
.o.O.o.
Kaeli wiped the blade on the man's jacket lapel, getting rid of the ruby blood that stained it. She was aware that most people in the Brotherhood, hell most people in general, were terrified of her. But that didn't bother her. In fact she liked having that kind of fear held over them. Because she was terrifying. She would kill without regret and enjoy every second of it. Her hand slipped into the front pocket of the man who was still choking on his own blood. If there was anything Kaeli knew how to do it was drawing out a person's death in the most excruciating way. Pulling the wallet from the pocket she flipped it open. The face of a woman smiling sunnily out at her with a young boy, probably no more than two, perched on her knee brought a nauseous grimace to Kaeli's face. No one was ever that fucking happy.
Moving forward she straddled the man's lap while he stared at her with wide, fearful eyes. "This your wife?" A redundant question as the only sound the man could make was a loud hacking sound as he tried to breath past the blood filling his throat. His face was pale. He didn't have long. "She's cute. Perhaps I should go and pay her a visit." A predatory smile etched across Kaeli's lips as she said this. The man, consumed with rage, managed to spit some of his blood onto Kaeli's face. Now to most people this would have had them recoiling but Kaeli was not most people. Blood had very little effect on her. In fact there were some cases when it actually spurred on her libido. Grabbing the man's face she pulled his lips to her own, his blood staining her face while she ground her hips into his. "Don't worry," She purred, pulling away. "I'll take real good care of her." With that said her hands moved up and in seconds she had snapped the man's neck. His head fell limply to the side while Kaeli climbed off of his lap, staring apathetically at him; his name was Gary Salmon according to his driver's licence.
Moving over to a stainless steel workbench she threw the wallet to the side and began to methodically put away the various knifes and chemicals she had used whilst interrogating him. Perhaps interrogating was the wrong word. Torturing while getting a few snippets of information between screams. That man symbolised why she hated humanity so much. They were building a fucking machine that would eradicate the mutant race. It annoyed her that Pyro hadn't let her gather more information. Though she could follow his thinking. There was no doubt that as soon as she saw the fuckers responsible for the Sentinel Project she would start killing and then where would they be? Mystique was the one who annoyed her most though. The little bitch always assumed that she knew what they should to just because she had been with the Brotherhood longer. Often Kaeli would make a remark around then that maybe she was getting old and they couldn't trust her senile decisions.
She chucked the last remaining knife into her brown bag, it was one of her favourites; all you had to do was stab the person and when you pulled the intestines would get caught on the barbs that stuck out and the last thing your victim saw would be their own stomach hanging out. Picking up the wallet she had discarded she slipped it into her pocket, a demonic smile pulling at her lips. She would keep this in case she wanted to have a little fun later.
.o.O.o.
Alice moved through the halls, trying to memorise the maze like corridors. Why anyone would chose to design the place like this she had no idea. Walling past a heavy brown door she heard music pumping from inside. Knocking hesitantly on the door she waited until she heard the muffled reply for her to come in. Opening the door the music only seemed to grow louder. The girl she recognised from this morning, Effy she thought her name was, sat on her bed, a book clutched in her hands. When Effy looked up and saw who it was she reached over to her bedside table and turned the music down until it was at a pleasant, background music, level. "Hey sorry about that. I thought you might be my sister, she hates it when I play my music loudly. So of course I do so to annoy her." Effy laughed lightly and discarded her book to the side, sitting up Indian style on her comforter. "What can I do for you new girl?"
Grabbing the computer chair that sat pressed against the wall, Alice pulled her feet up so that they were tucked underneath her thighs. "I didn't mean to intrude." Effy waved her hand dismissively like it was nothing. "I'm just feeling kind of homesick and this place is so big. I'm pretty sure I hit a couple of dead ends on the way up here."
"Yeah." Effy laughed again. "There was an attack on the old school a few years ago so Storm decided that the school had to be more mazelike so that any intruders would be confused. Guess she didn't figure on the students getting lost though." Obviously Effy remembered something as she scrambled off of the bed and over to her table, picking up a sheet of paper. "Here. Rogue told me to give this to you next time I saw you. You kinda left in too much of a hurry for her to give it to you." It was a map of the school.
"Thanks. This will definitely come in handy when I try and get back to my room later." The songs from Effy's stereo changed and Alice found her head bobbing to the beat. "Who is this playing?" She questioned.
Effy's eyes squinted slightly as she tried to place the song. "Oh. It's 'A Drop In The Ocean' by Ron Pope. Normally I don't like this kind of music but I kind of became addicted to this song." An embarrassed grin curving up at the side of her mouth. Effy glanced at the clock. "Come on. They should be serving dinner soon and I'm starving. I'll help you find your way back up afterwards." Alice laughed and climbed off the chair as the two exited the room.
They were on the second floor when Tyler, or Professor Stanford as he went to the students, stepped out in front of them. "Ah. Miss Lafferty. I've been looking for you all over. Professor D'Ancanto would like to see you in her office."
"What's up Ty?" Effy questioned, earning a reproachful look at the nickname she had made for Tyler.
"I don't see how that's any of business Eff." Now it was Effy's turn to glare. She hated the nickname Eff and Tyler knew it.
A weary sigh came from behind Tyler. "Let her come Tyler. Who knows, she might be helpful if she can keep her mouth shut for more than ten seconds." It was the teasing voice of Aaron. Effy and Tyler were the only two people that he acted like himself around. Alice was thoroughly confused. What the hell was going on?
"Why does she want to see me?" Alice questioned, her voice breaking slightly because of her hesitance.
Tyler shot her a sympathetic glance. "There is something we need your help with."
Effy's ears perked up (not literally) at hearing this and she turned a suspicious glare towards Aaron. "This wouldn't happen to be an X-Men something now would it?" She didn't want her new friend getting involved in something as dangerous as the missions that the X-Men embarked on. Sure most of them were just peacekeeping missions and were more politics than violence but when it did turn ugly then you could be sure that someone was coming back injured.
"Yes Effy. An X-Men thing." Tyler snapped at her exasperatedly, he'd been dealing with the stubborn teenager for too long now, despite being relatively young himself he had always felt older than his meagre twenty-seven years. "Now can we go?" Leaving no room to argue with him he turned and headed down the corridor. Alice and Effy shared a tentative glance before following, Aaron a couple of steps behind them.
.o.O.o.
Lily raised a questioning eyebrow as Damon kept glancing over his shoulder. Almost as if someone was going to jump out at any minute and attack him. "Are you expecting to just jumped? Or are you just always this jumpy?" Normally Lily was a tolerant person but this had to be the seventh time in the past two minutes that he had looked behind him.
"What exactly did Mystique tell you about me?" He questioned.
Giving a shrug Lily pushed open the door in front of her. "Not much. Just that you can mimic another person's powers just by thinking about them. Which is an awesome power by the way. Why do you ask."
"No reason." Bullshit.
Lily was about to press him for more information with a flash of platinum blonde hair entered her vision as Michaela came out from the corridor that Lily had just been passing. The two collided and fell to the floor. "Watch where you're going spaz." Lily hissed at the older girl.
"Fuck off whore." Michaela retorted.
"Oh I'm the whore am I? So that wasn't you we all heard last night? Oh Adam! Adam harder! Faster! Oh!" Lily mocked her half sister sarcastically as the two climbed back to their feet. Michaela moved forward, her hand outstretched ready to inflict some serious pain on her bastard sister. Blue lights crackled from Lily's hand. "Go ahead. Try it bitch. Anyone asks and I'll just say it was self defence." Michaela paused, trying to decide if it was worth being electrocuted. Lily had done it before and it stung like a bitch. Obviously deciding it wasn't worth it she turned and walked away without another words, her midnight black fuck-me boots clicking on the concrete floor. Lily turned around to see Damon regarding her with an amused expression. "What?" She hissed angrily.
"Nothing." And once again, bullshit.
.o.O.o.
"You want me to what?"
"You want her to what?" Effy and Alice chorused at the same time.
"How do you expect me to even get in there? Do I look like some sort of fucking scientist or engineer? I'm only seventeen for fuck's sake." Both Logan and Effy were kind of impressed with her swearing. She looked like a girl scout after all. "There's no way. Nu-uh." Alice crossed her hands through the air to signal her point.
Rogue gave a weary sigh. "Believe me Alice. I wouldn't ask if we had any other options. Read my mind if you don't believe me." There was a pregnant pause while Alice kept her eyes focused on Rogue.
Finally she had an annoyed grunt and collapsed into the chair behind her. "What do you want me to do?" Effy was about to protest once more but a look from Logan instantly kept her quiet. This wasn't something she could argue her friend out of.
"We're going to get you a few odds and ends to create a new identity for you. Kaleb should be able to handle that right?" She looked to Logan for conformation and he nodded his assent. "You'll be an early graduate from the University of Connecticut and an engineering major. That's the easy part. You're going to have to use your ability to gain entrance into where they are building these things, see if our sources information is accurate. The rest of us will be outside ready to back you up at anytime. If you need help you just call up with your telepathy and we'll come running." Alice was looking a little green but nodded her head.
"I'm going too." Effy sprung up from where she had been sitting quietly.
"No." Rogue quickly disagreed. "It's too dangerous."
"Too dangerous?" Effy scoffed. "No shit it's too dangerous. Which is why you'll need as many people as possible to help you if anything goes wrong." Rogue had to hand it to her. Her argument was a strong one.
"Fine. But you follow my orders to the letter alright?" Effy nodded. "You better. Because if you don't you will never join us on a mission again you got that?" Once again Effy nodded just she looked slightly worried. Normally she and Rogue got on well with each other. It was very rare that the older woman would yell at her. But when she did she was scary. "We leave tomorrow morning at eight am. If you're not there we're leaving without you." It was obvious that Rogue expected her to over sleep. Effy was notorious for oversleeping.
"I'll be there." She said determinedly.
.o.O.o.
Jace sat reclined on a couch as he watched Damien and his brother Alec torture a woman and man tied to wooden chair in the middle of the room. "I swear! We don't know anything." The man cried, literally cried, as Alec once again sent a wave of immense pain through his body while Damien cut off all of the woman's senses except for her hearing, he wanted her to hear her friends screams.
The siblings cut off their powers and Jace languidly got up off the couch. "I'm going to ask you again. Where are they going to test it?" The woman's sobs reached their ears and Jace couldn't help but feel bad for her. But he couldn't let that stop him. "Where?" He yelled angrily grabbing the woman around the neck, a white hot glow spread from his hand. A scream pierced through the room at his touch while the man yelled at Jace to let her go.
"I'll tell you!" The woman cried.
"Bonnie no!" The man yelled angrily at his partner.
The woman whipped her head around to glare at her friend, her red hair slapping her face harshly. "Shut the hell up Bob! I plan on getting out of here alive. If you don't then that's your fucking problem." She turned to the three men in front of her, wondering how they had gotten involved in this. Two didn't look more than twenty while the other could only have been twenty-four, at most. Despite what she had told her employers she did not hate mutants. This was simply a job to keep food on the table for her son. Bonnie glared at the blonde mutant, Jace, who stood in front of her. "New York. They're going to test it in New York tomorrow. They've got a warehouse and everything. Last I heard they had nearly seven mutants that they were going to use as their test subjects. That's all I know. I swear." Her voice had trailed off into a sob. The older mutant who had caused the immense pain nodded and walked off, pulling a mobile out of his pocket. The blonde one came closer to her and Bonnie flinched, afraid that he was going to finish her off. "I told you everything I know! I swear, I swear!" Her voice had risen to hysterics as she lost him out the side of her periphery vision.
Shockingly the ropes binding her wrists slackened. "I know you did. You're free to go Bonnie." Was this a joke? If she wasn't mistaken she could have sworn he sounded civil.
"Y-You're letting me go?"
"Yes I am. You're not going to tell anybody about what happened here today though are you?" Bonnie shook her head ferociously. Getting up she was about to run when she turned and looked at her friends. His eyes were begging her to help him. "He's not going with you." The monotonously intoned. "He said some rather harsh words to my associates here and I don't think they're quite ready to forgive him yet." To back up his point the other boy cracked his knuckles.
Feeling ashamed of what she was about to do Bonnie turned and ran out of the room. "You bitch!" She heard Bob scream. "You fucking bitch! Burn in hell you whoring cunt!" Tear fell freely from her eyes. "I hope you die in-" His words were cut off as she heard a sickening crack. They must have broken his jaw. Bonnie existed the building and enclosed her flimsy coat around her shoulders as she stepped outside into the freezing Russian winter. She needed to get home, get her son, and run like hell.
.o.O.o.
"Change of plans." Pyro told Mystique as he hung up the call with Alec. "We're going in tomorrow. They're testing it right here in New York. I plan on derailing that test."
A rare smile crossed the blue woman's face. It wasn't a pleasant smile. "I'll get the others ready."
.o.O.o.
Alice felt like she was going to be sick. She sat at the dinner table, Effy on her left and the girl who had been fighting with the boy earlier, Ariadne. Her roast beef sat before her untouched, likewise Effy's was intact. Ariadne glanced at the two in confusion. "What's up? Normally you've devoured your body weight in food by now Effy." Effy through a half hearted glare at the young blonde.
"No hungry." She mumbled before getting up to dump her food into the bin and heading upstairs to go to bed.
"Weird." Ari glanced at Alice as if she could explain Effy's strange behaviour. Right now she wished that she and Alice could switch powers so that she could read what the girl was thinking. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Alice shook her head and followed Effy's actions and heading upstairs. Okay what the hell was going on? Before she had time to ponder it Ari was joined by her sister Andi who sat across from her.
"You're never going to believe who else transferred." Ari raised her eyebrows, waiting for her sister to continue. "The bitch squad." Now that was surprising. The bitch squad comprised of seven students who took it upon themselves to boss the rest of the students around.
Sure enough said students were currently filing in and sitting in the middle of the hall. "Well there goes the peace and quiet I was hoping to have here." Andi snorted and sipped at her diet coke. Ari didn't know how her sister could drink that crap. It tasted like piss, not that she knew what piss tasted like but she could guess. "Sebastian looks like he is in pain." Ari laughed and Andi turned to look at the brunette male whose girlfriend was currently trailing kisses up his neck.
"There should be a ruling banning PDA in the cafeteria. Some of us are trying to eat here." Andi said the last part slightly louded and earned glares in her direction. Ari couldn't help but agree. Sebastian was probably the only one of the bitch squad that was remotely tolerable. He got in on looks and a wicked ass power.
"I'll see you later little sis. I gotta go finish my reading before we get back to classes."
"Leaving it to the last minute again?" Andi asked knowingly.
"You know it."Ari winked and tossed her rubbish into the bun and headed out. As she was going up the stairs she saw Kaleb walking down and before he could react she grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him into an empty classroom. Thank god they were on the second floor where the classrooms were located. "Okay blondie. You're going to tell me what you and Mr Ego were looking at earlier. And if you tell me nothing then I swear to God you're going to be needed a testicle retrieval operation." She had watched the 10 Things I Hate About You movie way too many time. She wouldn't actually hit him but there was no way he knew that.
Kaleb let out a sigh. He was used to her aggressive attitude. "No. I'm not."He moved to walk around Ari to the door but she quickly pushed him back until he was sitting on a desk.
"You're not going anywhere until you tell me. So you might as well just save yourself the hassle and tell me now."
He ran a hand over his face. "You know you're incredibly annoying right?"
Ari gave a shrug. "You get used to it. Now spill." Looking at Ariadne for a second, obviously trying to make his mind up about something he pulled his laptop out of the bookbag that always hung from his shoulder. It was already booted up by the time that he opened the lid. Oh the benefits of being a technopath. Turning the screen to Ari she saw the same image that she had seen earlier. It was the double who looked like Kaleb but wasn't. "Okay. Who is he?"
"He's my brother. Twin brother if you hadn't already guessed. We got separated when we were seven. I only found this video a few days ago. It's a couple of weeks old but that definitely him." Ariadne felt her heart go out to him. She couldn't imagine being separated from her sister for that long. "Anyway. Asher and I stumbled across this by chance. We – well I – hacked into the camera at the mall that the X-Men went to that one time. Remember?" Sure she did. There was a mutant who went nuts and started killing people in a mall. The X-Men had gone in but the Brotherhood was already there and got the mutant before the X-Men could bring him in.
"What does this have to do with your brother?"
Kaleb looked at her like she was slow. Hell she probably was. "He was with them?"
"Them?"
"The Brotherhood." Wow. Now that wasn't something she'd been expecting.
"What's his name?" She asked, trying to drive the topic away from the Brotherhood.
"Kyle."
.o.O.o.
Kyle was staring at Spencer and it was thoroughly creeping her out. Mystique had called them all together, something that very rarely happened. Turning in her seat she glared at the boy. "What the fuck is your problem?" She snarled, both Lily and Adam who sat on either side of her turned back too.
"Who's Aria?" All of the colour drained from Spencer's face. There was no way he knew about that. Was there?
She was saved from answering when Pyro walked in, Mystique trailing behind him like a shadow. "I suppose you've all heard about the Sentinel Project already?" It was true. Most of them had. Kyle had a vision about it only a few hours ago and informed Lily and from there it spread like wildfire. Lily was a major gossip. In fact there were only one or two blank faced. "I've just found out that they plan to test it here in New York, tomorrow." A collective gasp rippled through those gathered there. No one had expected it to be up for testing this quickly. "I'll be taking Spencer, Adam, Michaela, Lily, Damon with me tomorrow. We plan on taking these fuckers down." A grumble came from behind her. Kyle was obviously upset that he wasn't chosen to go. She couldn't if she'd been told she had to say she would be screaming in Pyro's face right now and he knew it. "I want the five of you ready to go by seven tomorrow morning." With that he left and both of those gathered dispersed, going back to whatever it was they were doing before the meeting, probably sleeping. It was nearly eleven.
Spencer was about to leave when she felt a hand encircle her arm. "Who's Aria?" Kyle asked once again.
Annoyed Spencer pushed him away from her. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about." She lied and existed the room, a confused Lily trailing after her.
.o.O.o.
It was unnatural, pure and simple. Katie had heard that she had to be up early this morning and had snuck into her room during the night and set her alarm to go off at five in the fucking morning. If she survived through the mission she was going to gladly kill her sister, wearing a smile while doing so. Currently Effy sat at the kitchen counter, a cup of black coffee steaming in her hands. Normally she couldn't stand the disgusting drink but right now she needed all the help she could get. Rogue walked into the room, already dressed in her X-Man uniform though with a grey hood thrown over the top. She looked surprised when she saw Effy sitting there. Though that could have been because of the overly large, ostentatious orange sunglasses she had stolen from Katie. She'd broken hers last week. "You're up?" Did she have to sound so surprised?
"Eight o'clock right?" She glanced down at her wrist watched which told her it was twenty past seven. "I'm early."
Rogue walked over to where the pot of coffee she had just made was now cooling slowly. "Are you sure you want to do this Effy? No one would blame you if you stayed." Effy knew that Rogue was only trying to protect her but did she have to make her sound like a coward?
"I'm going." She replied gruffly and that was the end of the conversation.
Logan walked in shortly after and could feel the tension in the air. "Jeez who died?" He grabbed a soda out of the fridge since he wasn't allowed to store his beer in the school.
"No one. Yet." Effy muttered and earned a grin from the Canadian and a glare from the Southern Belle. Breakfast that morning was a somber affair, Effy tried to break it occasionally with a few jokes but she only got exasperated looks from the others. Finally at ten to eight Logan told them to start heading towards the X-Jet so that they could head off. When all of them were strapped in Effy turned to Alice who was looking around the X-Jet in wonder. "This gig. It ain't without it's perks." The two shared a smile before Rogue flew them out.
.o.O.o.
Lily sat in the backseat, wedged between Adam and Michaela. Awkward much? The half sisters had called a quasi-truce after Michaela received numerous electrical shocks and returned the favour by causing Lily a mini heart attack. Currently she was looking out Adam's window (no way was she looking out Michaela's and having to deal with looking at her face) and watching the scenery. It was funny. When she was younger she had always wanted an older sister and then she had met Michaela and that wish had quickly changed. Spencer and Damon were riding in the car behind them with Pyro while Mystique was the one driving their car. Apparently a bag full of weapons was more important to the blue mutant then everyone else's comfort as it was the one riding shot gun. Right now she was secretly planning how to kill the bitch and male it look like an accident. She was just contemplating pushing her into a river and electrocuting the shit out of it when they pulled up outside of what looked like an abandoned warehouse. For once Michaela and Lily couldn't help but feel the same thing about a situation. "Seriously?" They both questioned before turning and glaring at the other and hoping out of the car. Guess that meant the truce was off.
Pyro's jeep pulled up next to them and he glanced at the building, raising his eyebrows slightly. Obviously this hadn't been what he was expecting. Mystique handed guns to Michaela, Adam and Spencer, the rest of our powers could be used just as well if not better. "What's the plan?" Damon asked. This was his first assignment with the Brotherhood and he looked eager to please.
Glancing over at the new recruit Pyro fiddled with something on Spencer's gun. "We're going in the back way. Easier access, less security. Now I'm gonna divide you into two teams Spencer, Michaela you go with Mystique, the rest of you will–" He trailed off, seeing something a little ways down the alley the cars were parked in only he wasn't looking at the ground, he was looking at the sky. "No fucking way." The rest of them turned and saw what Lily could only describe as a huge as jet.
"Is that?" Adam questioned and Pyro nodded, a smirk twisted his lips. Lily and Spencer both let out groans. The hatred between the X-Men and the Brotherhood was legendary and neither of the two had ever been in confrontation with the other mutant group before. Pyro quickly told Michaela, Spencer and Damon to hide until he called them. Obviously planning on lulling the X-Men into a false sense of security before adding to the numbers.
The jet landed only about fifty or so meters down the alley, Lily was kind of surprised it fit at all. The thing was huge. Six people exited the plane. The one Lily could only assume was Wolverine already had his claws out, a snarl transforming his face. She couldn't help but feel that whoever their stylist was deserved to be shot, brought back to life, and then shot again for designing those ridiculous outfits. Only two of them weren't dressed in the black leather. One looked like she was applying for a job and the other was dressed in black baggy pants and a black midriff, long sleeve shirt. Next to her she felt Adam stiffen. Glancing at him she saw that he was glaring at one of the younger, actually he was probably the youngest, guys who was staring right back at Adam.
"Adam?"
"Aaron?" The two questioned at the same time, everyone started to look at them in confusion. What the fuck?
"Aaron?" Another voice came from behind them. Lily turned and saw Spencer standing there, all of the colour had drained from her face and she was shaking violently. Michaela was hissing at Spencer for coming out of hiding but Spencer was paying her no never mind. She looked like she was about to throw up. Aaron – as Lily had gathered his name was – took a step forward and Adam let out a hiss, raising his gun to aim it at Aaron's head.
.o.O.o.
No this wasn't supposed to be happening. John was not supposed to be here. He was going to ruin everything. Rogue steeled her soldier and took a step forward, acting as if she couldn't see the guns now being pointed at her. "Get out of here Pyro." She added as much hatred and venom into her words as she could.
"Nah, I don't think I will Roguey." Oh god how she hated that nickname. He was the only one who ever had the balls to call her that.
"I won't tell you again John." Two could play at that game. She grinned as she saw the scowl on his face. "Leave. Now. Or else someone is going to get hurt. And chances are it won't be me."
Rogue watched as he sparked the lighter connected to his wrist, playing absently with a fireball that was quickly engulfing his entire arm. "Like I said. I don't think I will." A wall of fire was then sent at them and the X-Men had to duck in order to avoid it. One of the blonde girls through a ball of electricity at Effy who flew back a few feet before climbing back up and throwing a garbage can back at the girl. Blood was dripping from her nose but she didn't seem to notice. Rogue had noted once that Effy had almost no control when her powers took over.
She was knocked to the side by someone rugby tackling her and looked up at the person who was currently grabbing her hands and holding them above her head. "Back here again are we Roguey?" Blind rage filled her and she brought her knee up to hit his groin.
Pyro let out a groan and Rogue rolled them over until she was the one now straddling him. "I promise you John. We will never be back here again." She placed a bittersweet kiss on his lips before turning and getting back into the fight, ignoring the look that Logan sent her.
.o.O.o.
The squeal of tires was the first thing he noticed and Tyler saw the Brotherhood vans leaving. He saw Rogue look over to where Pyro had been lying but he was now gone. Aaron walked over to the rest of them, the girl he had seemed so shocked to see was lying limply in his arms. It almost looked like Aaron was in pain at being near the girl. Tyler looked at him questioningly. "Spencer." Was the only thing that Aaron said before heading into the X-Jet with the girl. Tyler's eyes were widened in what, at any other time, would have been a comical manner. It couldn't be her.
Logan was helping Alice up who had been knocked into the wall hard by Damon. Getting up she looked around, her chocolate brown eyes searching for something. Or someone. "Where's Effy?" That question shocked them and the rest of those assembled turned and looked all around. Effy wasn't there. "Where's Effy?" Alice practically screamed and the rest of them couldn't look at the girl who had just lost her only friend.
.o.O.o.
Hmmm okay so that was quite possibly the longest chapter I have ever written. Wait no, that was the longest chapter I have ever written. Wow. Anyway tell me what you think guys. Did you love it? Hate it? Am I kidding myself by thinking that this is any good? Should I even continue? Which characters do you want to hear more from? And yes there will be more character's introduced next chapter. If you want to know what each character looks like then just ask me too and I will put a full cast list at the end of the next chapter. Review and tell me what you think.
- SmokeyPip